Hoodwinked
by Reige
Summary: Moving on had never been easy for their kind—especially when every Fable seemed keen on reminding the Big Bad Wolf and Red Riding Hood their awful story. A Canon Divergent BBW x RRH love story!


**A/N:** A wonderful story I've been saving, from me to you. Happy New Years (Eve), my darlings~!

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**PROLOGUE:**

**Once upon a time...**

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_When the year began to die of old age, it showed through bringing about the cold darkness to signal its end._

_It showed through the dead trees, the barren fields and crops, and the sparseness of woodland creatures that once inhabited the forests, meadows, and rivers._

_Spring was known to give birth to new life from each new year._

_Winter brought cold death._

_The ice and snow came, blanketing the world in stark white to erase anything that brought color to the bleak world. Every inhale felt like dozens of sharp knives to the lungs, demonstrating to all that nature could be unforgiving as it could be nurturing. During this time, the village lost its vigor as it was time for all to gather and maintain as things would become scarce in the coming months. The villagers worked quickly and efficiently to stock up their food and timber wood, trusting in themselves that they had enough to secure full bellies and warm hearths for the duration._

_But this winter became the one no one would forget._

_This was the winter where **he **came along._

_Before every winter, never did the air carry such heavy atmosphere it rendered the most stoutest and hardiest of folks into paranoid mice; the men scurrying quickly from one place to another while the women were reluctant to step out of their homes, all of them claiming to sense a phantom haunting their footsteps when the shadows grew from the dying of the light. Before every winter, never was there a painful absence of hunting game as there was now; so empty were the woods, meadows, and rivers that a prickling of unease began to settle over the villagers, all of them wondering inside their minds what could've made the creatures flee their lands completely (and thus leaving them without further supply of food).__ Before every winter, never was there such a feeling of isolation in the lands, and yet something instinctively warned the men and women from straying too far from the roads and houses; travelers and merchants alike became trapped inside the village, too wary to venture out as if suspecting that once they stepped out of sight, there was no__ guarantee of their return..._

_Before every past winter, never was there such a feeling as though something was watching and waiting for me. Yet now and then, a dark shape would seemingly tease me from the corner of my eyes then vanish without a trace as I scanned the area for its presence._

_Even as I went about my daily duties within the safe perimeters of the village, when I helped my younger siblings look after a flock of skittish sheep for an ailing neighbor, or when I obediently trailed alongside my mother towards the path leading to grandmother's cottage which was situated near the edge of the Black Forest__—the unseen presence persisted. The weight of their gaze as heavy as the red cloak on my shoulders._

_Then one fateful day, the unseen shadow made itself known._

_The sun had disappeared beyond the distant horizon, painting the sky blood red that a sense of foreboding washed over me when watching the world become engulfed by darkness. Mother worried for grandmother, but she was needed at home to stock up the supplies (or what was left of it), and that was when she turned to me. I was afraid of venturing alone without anyone to accompany me, imagining all sorts of cruel, twisted things waiting once I stepped outside the door, but mother wouldn't hear any of my pleas.__ I was a growing girl, she sharply reprimanded, and it was time I started behaving as such._

_So, with one silent prayer to God for safe passage, and another wish to give me the same courage my father carried in him when he was away on his many dangerous hunts, I headed out towards my lonely grandmother's cottage._

_Almost immediately after I walked a good half mile down the familiar trail, the wind itself acted like it had a mind of its own; the cold winds of winter crashed upon me like waves against the cliffs, causing my cloak to fly about wildly. My vision became fogged by the flakes of ice springing against my exposed face, effectively blinding me no matter how many times I tried to shield my face. Every attempt to hurry along was met with opposition. There was little to do but move forward, trying (and failing miserably) to fight against nature itself._

_And suddenly, without any warning given, my one-sided fight against the blustering winds gave out._

_For a brief moment, I felt relieved. I was able to compose myself, right my hood and cloak, and secure my handle on the basket which carried dried meat and wine for my grandmother. Soon however, the calm I felt began to fade away when something dawned onto me as I took in my surroundings. I was no longer standing on the main path towards my grandmother's cottage._

_Instead of sparse foliage (berry bushes I would pick now and then because grandmother made the best pies), I was surrounded by dead black trees, their branches long and terrifying as if they were all trying to reach for me. And the howling wind that once wrung heavily in my ears? gone, leaving behind a dreadful emptiness which only made the atmosphere all the more unnerving._

_The Black Forest._

_Lost and afraid, I took a step back when__—_

**_"Hello, little red."_**

_The Wolf found me._


End file.
